Gretzky Has Hat Trick to Fire Up Kings, 6-2

The early rounds went to the Blackhawks and the 18,239 rowdy fans packed into Chicago Stadium Sunday afternoon. But once the Kings started firing, there was no stopping them.

Just ask Alain Chevrier, the Chicago goalie who saw, up close and personal, the quick-strike potential of the Kings with Wayne Gretzky, who led the way in a 6-2 victory with his second hat trick of the season.

“You just can’t let him roam like he did,” Chevrier said afterward.

The Kings--with Gretzky--are 30-22-5, with 23 games left. Thirty games is all they won last season without him.

The Blackhawks, who wrapped up the series with the Kings 0-3, are 19-31-7.

They had a 1-0 lead after a first-period goal by Everett Sanipass, and Chevrier had faced only four shots when Bernie Nicholls scored the Kings’ first goal at 9:15 of the second period.

Nicholls made his way to the crease and was waiting to knock the puck out of the air and into the net on a pass from Tim Watters, who had carried the puck down the right side ahead of the Blackhawk defense. Chevrier had moved over to face Watters, leaving the net open for Nicholls.

Before the second period was over, the Kings had scored four goals on 10 shots for a 4-1 lead.

Gretzky scored his first goal on a power play after Blackhawk defenseman Bob McGill tried to clear the puck and it went airborne. Mike Krushelnyski plucked it out of the air with a glove, dropped it on the ice and passed it to Gretzky, who was coming down the right side. Gretzky took on Chevrier one-on-one and tucked the puck into the corner of the net at 10:21.

Krushelnyski scored the next goal himself, at 18:15, also on a power play, taking a pass from Mike Allison in front of the goal to make it 3-1.

Gretzky scored his second goal after a shot bounced back to him. He took the rebound at the right post and wrapped around behind the goal to poke it into the left corner in the last minute of the period.

“I held on to it a little longer,” Gretzky said. “There were a lot of people in there crashing the net.”

His third goal, scored on a short-handed breakaway at 4:19 of the third period, put the Kings up, 5-1. Gretzky skated up the left side of the ice, stopped and slapped a shot past Chevrier and up into the top of the net.

Dirk Graham added a short-handed goal for Chicago at 11:06, teaming up with Steve Larmer against King defenseman Doug Crossman.

Bob Kudelski scored a final goal for the Kings at 16:15. He caught up with the puck along the boards on the right side and took a long shot that was good.

But the game was decided during the Kings’ barrage in the second period.

King goalie Glenn Healy said that he never doubted that the momentum would turn--even though he had faced 16 shots in the first period, and Chevrier had faced only four. The Kings were outshot in the game, 34-24.

“The game can be very explosive and very exciting in a building like this, where the fans play such a big part,” Healy said.

“I knew that if I could just weather the storm and keep the game close at the start, our team would get it going. We just needed to get that first one, and I knew it would snowball.”

Nicholls said, “We needed that flurry of shots and goals. When you play with a guy like Wayne, you know that he can come on and pick everyone up like that.”

Even the Chicago crowd felt it. The Blackhawk fans gave Gretzky a polite cheer for his hat trick.

Kings Notes

Wayne Gretzky, who now has 42 goals this season, has scored 40 or more goals in 10 straight seasons. That breaks the record of nine he shared with the New York Islanders’ Mike Bossy. Sunday’s hat trick was the 45th of his career, increasing his NHL record. . . . Goalie Glenn Healy, who took over for Mark Fitzpatrick midway through the Kings’ game against New Jersey Feb. 2, has started the four games since then and gone 3-1. Rollie Melanson joined the team over the All-Star break but has not played. . . . Coach Robbie Ftorek’s wife, Wendy, gave birth to a daughter on Friday morning, but Ftorek didn’t hear about it until after the game at Washington Friday night. . . . The Kings will be back home to play the Boston Bruins Wednesday night at the Forum.